Martin B-26 Marauder: The Wingless Wonder was the name of a variant of Avalon Hill's B-17: Queen of the Skies solitaire boardgame. A draft of B-26 was available for play testing which used the B-17: Queen of the Skies rules and B-17 was needed to play. Everything has changed since then, and B-26: The Marauder Strikes! has completly new mechanics and is a stand alone game. It is a solitaire game set on board a Martin B-26 Marauder medium bomber during World War Two in the European Theater of Opearations from July 1943 until the end of the war in May 1945.

B-26: The Marauder Strikes! is a big game in that there are many target lists, rules, mission maps and details which are not found in B-17: Queen of the Skies or B-29 Superfortress: Bombers over Japan. For example, the Damage Tables are more detailed than the earlier games and the combat system is similar, but completely new. The Target Lists include a large selection of targets attacked by B-26s from July 1943 until the end of the war in May 1945 and are placed on 13 maps (movement boards) which are different depending on where your base is located, from England to the Netherlands. Different models of the B-26 is also included from the early B-26 in 1941 until the B-26G which entered combat in October 1944. The earlier models are not used in the European Theater of Operations (the ETO) in which B-26: The Marauder Strikes! is set, but will be used in 22nd Bomb Group: Marauders from Australia, an add-on variant set in the Pacific in the war against Japan in New Guinea.

The rules in this Flight Manual try to reflect the twin engined B-26 Marauder and situations and events which the crews saw on their missions and historical accuracy has been an important guideline during the development of this game.

Players familiar with B-17: Queen of the Skies or B-29 Superfortress: Bombers over Japan recognize the mechanics used in B-26. One or more 6-sided dice are rolled on tables to plan the mission, to determine if enemy fighters appear, to hit with machine gun fire and to determine damage and wounds and much more. B-26 is as easy to play as B-17 with its basic system which is similar to the mechanics in B-17: Queen of the Skies. Players who have flown missions in B-17 may find that B-26 is similar, but more detailed and there are ideas included in B-26 which can be found in the B-17: Queen of the Skies community. If you add the advanced and optional guidelines you will find B-26 to become deep, detailed and complex, but still does not stray far from the simple mechanics of the basic system. You will also find yourself in situations where you have to make a decision.

The Core Game Flight Manual will be used to play the A-20 Havoc, A-26 Invader and B-25 Mitchell add-ons.

You can begin your campaign flying missions from bases in England or jump in later in the war when the B-26 groups had moved to the continent and you will find Mission Maps with your station either in England, France, Belgium or the Netherlands depending on when you fly your missions. Put together a crew, name your B-26 and fly missions over France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Germany, Austria and Chechoslovakia!

Now time for our crew to visit the lovely town on Bryas!
Only three zones, but it’s good weather and we’re at the tail of the formation
again :/ 10000 ft, heavy flak, moderate EAR.

Zone 1: nothing.

Zone 2: 1 fighter, but he’s just a Kacz. Oh well.

Zone 3: three waves of fighters! Hoora… er, oh no! The first
wave is a single Ace who doesn’t hurt us and we don’t either (thought the top
turret scratches his paint).

Wave two is a Kacz we can’t hit. $%@#!

Wave three consists of three fighters, who we deal some
damage to but unfortunately ding up our interplane communication systems
(thankfully, not the radio).

Flak is heavy, but largely inaccurate. With little real
damage to the plane thus far, the Reckless Venture scores 90% of it’s bombs
this run! We get hit by flak on the return (thankfully, the bomb bay is empty
for one hit). Unfortunately, we lose heat in the nose and Lydia gets frostbite.

Another three waves. Joy!

The first wave, a Focke, does superficial damage.

The second wave, consisting of Fockes (one of which is a
Kacz we can’t hit) also does hits, but only superficial ones.

The third wave are Mess. 110 which are green and Kacz. We
don’t hit either and the one only does superficial damage to our left wing.